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Louis-Antoine, Duke of Angoulême
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Louis-Antoine of France, Dauphin of France and Duke of Angoulême (born Louis-Antoine of Artois[1]; August 6, 1775 – June 3, 1844) was the eldest son of King Louis XVI of France's youngest brother, the Comte d'Artois, and his wife, Princess Marie Thérèse of Savoy. When his father became the king in 1824 as Charles X, he became the last Dauphin of France. He was King Louis XIX of France and Navarre for a disputed reign of twenty minutes in 1830 and Legitimist pretender to the throne from 1836 to 1844.
Early life
He and his younger brother Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry, were educated in a chateau a few miles from Versailles. On the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 the two young princes followed their father into exile in Turin, Italy, then to Germany and finally England. In 1792, d'Angoulême joined the émigré army of his cousin, the Prince of Condé.
In June 1795 his uncle was proclaimed King Louis XVIII, and later that year the 20-year old Angoulême led an attempted Royalist uprising in the Vendée, which ended in failure. In early 1797 he joined his brother and uncle in the German Duchy of Brunswick hoping to join the Austrian Army. The defeat of Austria by France obliged them to flee, and they took refuge in Mittau, Courland, under the protection of Tsar Paul I of Russia. There in June 1799 he married his cousin, Princess Marie-Thérèse-Charlotte (1778–1851). Bearing the title Madame Royale, she was the eldest daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and the only one of their children to survive the French Revolution. Since her release from the Temple Prison in 1795, she had been living at the Austrian court. They had no children.
Military service
In April 1800, Angoulême took command of a regiment of cavalry in the Bavarian army and took part in the battle of Hohenlinden against the French, showing some ability.
In early 1801 Tsar Paul made peace with Bonaparte, and the French court in exile fled to Warsaw, then controlled by Prussia. For the next ten years, Angoulême accompanied and advised his uncle the King. They returned to Russia when Alexander became Tsar, but in mid-1807 the treaty between Bonaparte and Alexander forced them to take refuge in England. There, at Hartwell, King Louis reconstituted his court, and d'Angoulême was granted an allowance of £300 a month. Twice (in 1807 and 1813) he attempted to return to Russia to join the fight against Bonaparte, but was refused permission by the Tsar. He remained in England until 1814 when he sailed to Bordeaux, which had declared for the King. His entry into the city on 12 March 1814 was regarded as the beginning of the Bourbon restoration. From there Angoulême fought alongside Wellington to restore his cousin Ferdinand VII to the throne of Spain.
Flight to England and return
During the "Hundred Days", as chief of the royalist army in the southern Rhône River valley, Angoulême was unable to prevent Napoleon's return to Paris. He was again forced to flee to England, until the final defeat of Bonaparte at Waterloo. After the second restoration of Louis XVIII, he served Louis loyally until the King's death in 1824, when Angoulême became Dauphin — the heir-apparent to the throne, under his father, now King Charles X.
| House of Bourbon |
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| Henri IV |
| Sister |
| Catherine, duchesse de Lorraine |
| Children |
| Louis XIII |
| Elisabeth, Queen of Spain |
| Christine Marie, Duchess of Savoy |
| Nicholas Henri, duc d'Orléans |
| Gaston, duc d'Orléans |
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Henriette-Marie, Queen of England
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| Louis XIII |
| Children |
| Louis XIV |
| Philippe, duc d'Orléans |
| Louis XIV |
| Children |
| Louis, Dauphin |
| Anne-Élisabeth |
| Marie-Anne |
| Marie-Therèse |
| Philippe-Charles, duc d'Anjou |
| Louis-François, duc d'Anjou |
| Grandchildren |
| Louis, Dauphin |
| King Felipe V of Spain |
| Charles, duc de Berry |
| Great Grandchildren |
| Louis, Dauphin |
| Louis XV |
| Louis XV |
| Children |
| Louise-Elisabeth, duchesse de Parme |
| Madame Henriette |
| Louis, Dauphin |
| Madame Adélaïde |
| Madame Victoire |
| Madame Sophie |
| Madame Louise |
| Grandchildren |
| Marie Clotilde, Queen of Sardinia |
| Louis XVI |
| Louis XVIII |
| Charles X |
| Madame Élisabeth |
| Louis XVI |
| Children |
| Marie-Thérèse, duchesse d'Angouleme |
| Louis-Joseph, Dauphin |
| Louis XVII |
| Sophie-Beatrix |
| Louis XVII |
| Louis XVIII |
| Charles X |
| Children |
| Louis XIX |
| Charles, duc de Berry |
| Grandchildren |
| Henri V |
| Louise, duchesse de Parme |
| French monarchy, 843-1870 |
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As Dauphin he supported his father's policy of ridding France of her recent revolutionary and imperial past, expelling former imperial officers from the Army, and commanding a French military expedition — the "Hundred Thousand Sons of St. Louis" — that helped quell an anti-Bourbon revolt in Spain (1823).
Abdication of father and son
Finally in 1830 in the July Revolution the people, angered and frustrated by Charles's repressive policies, demanded his abdication, and that of his descendants, in favour of Louis-Philippe, and sent a delegation to the Tuileries Palace to force his compliance.
When Charles reluctantly signed the document of abdication on August 2, 1830, Louis-Antoine and his wife became the King and Queen of France, though the brevity of his effective reign makes it often unaccounted for by historians. It is said that the now King Louis XIX spent the next twenty minutes listening to the entreaties of his wife not to sign, while the former Charles X sat weeping. After that he also abdicated (in favour of his nephew), the Duke de Bordeaux, making history as the shortest-ever reigning King. For the final time he left for exile, where he was known as the "Count of Marnes". He never returned to France.
Some legitimists did not recognize the abdications as valid, and recognized Charles X as King until his death in 1836, with Louis XIX succeeding him thereafter. Louis-Antoine died in Görz, Austria in 1844, aged 69. Upon his death his nephew the Count of Chambord, also known as the Duke of Bordeaux, became head of the royal family of France in exile.
Ancestors
See also
References
- ^ Louis was born with the surname d'Artois but this automatically became de France when his father, the comte d'Artois, became king as Charles X.
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